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On Obama's Asian diplomacy -- #3
Last week some of Barack Obama's critics were upset that he ducked a question in Japan about whether he approved of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I cannot begin to say how short-sighted that criticism is.
When I lived in Japan for several years in the 1980s, I learned about the various realms of the things you could say in public (建前, tatemae) and things you actually believed (本音, honne). Although not strictly a matter of tatemae/honne, the atomic bomb decision is a particularly thorny and awkward one for Americans to discuss with Japanese. The normal way to consider the topic in Japan involves the country's status as the only object of an atomic attack in history, the suffering its people underwent, and the status it therefore possesses to talk about the importance of avoiding any such event again -- all of which is understandable. There is a lot of history the prevailing Japanese account leaves out, but that is a point better raised in internal Japanese debate than by American officials. Americans may believe that Harry Truman saved both Japanese and Allied lives by this decision. But there really is no mileage in a U.S. official saying that to people in Japan. Probably the worst thing I did in my time there was to propose that argument to a man who had been a doctor in Hiroshima in 1945. The conversation came to an abrupt and hostile end. And I was just a reporter, not the American president who has the power to order nuclear weapons used again.
Here's the best analogy I can think of: suppose you were a sheriff who had gunned down a group of terrorists who were threatening to blow up a town. In the crossfire, some innocent children were killed. If you run into their parents long afterwards, do you say: "Tough luck, it was in a good cause! And I'd do just the same thing again!" Or do you recognize their great sorrow and loss and do everything possible to avoid rubbing it in?
In avoiding a direct answer to the question from a Japanese reporter about whether the bombing was justified, Obama did what any American president or diplomat should do when this topic is raised in Japan. There is no answer that would have worked out better for him than his not answering at all.
Language politics: Germany, Japan, Cote d'Ivoire
Following
this item about how China and America had one attitude toward foreigners trying to speak their language, while Japan, France, and (arguably) the Ivory Coast had a different view, some assent, dissent, and elaboration. These are long but if you're interested in language, then the detail is interesting.
About
German speakers:
"Vigorous agreement on the American attitude towards foreigners speaking English, as contrasted with (in this case) German-speakers. My mother, an Austrian, always used to watch as my dad, an American, inevitably got mocked in her homeland for his imperfect German accent, and, indeed, imperfect German (which was still pretty good). She notes this would never happen in America -- it is rare for Americans to actively mock a foreigner's accent. When they do, it's usually in a way that somehow includes the foreign speaker. (We have a young family friend who sometimes says a word or two in "Churman" to make fun of her -- but he doesn't know any language but English -- he isn't lording any linguistic superiority over her -- knowing 2-3 languages to him is like ESP, a genuinely remarkable capacity.) Mom always says that the most common American reaction to her accent is a genuinely curious and open, "You have such a nice accent -- where are you from?"
"Those German-speakers aren't being malicious -- something about the relative difficulty of the language instills this attitude in them. It's just hard for a foreigner to avoid mistakes that every educated German-speaker learns to avoid at the age of five. Also, note that in German there is a sharp distinction between "Hochdeutsch" and the vernacular German that the unlettered masses speak, meaning that a fairly substantial percentage of the population isn't even really trying to speak German correctly. English doesn't really recognize any such division -- we're all speaking English, one way or another. (Also, it fascinates me that the dictionary in German is known as the "Fremdwörterbuch" -- the book of foreign words -- you know, those hard Latinate words that you sometimes need to look up -- everyone knows the core German words. Mongrel English treats all words the same, regardless of origin.)
"My mother, whose English in the meantime is excellent (but with an accent), observes that the thing about English is that the first stages of learning the language are easy -- anyone can learn it. And then comes the huge chasm to true fluency. English's vast vocabulary creates endless nuance in expression, which is just damnably difficult to master. But the first stages are easy, a linguistic open-door policy."
About
Japanese:
"I agree with your comments about the Japanese language. I am a 2-year
resident of Tokyo with fairly strong Japanese skills. [After some university study in Hiroshima and London] I mastered the
language not by learning it from textbooks, but doing it on my own
will-power. So, by speaking to people in Japanese almost non-stop, by
reading books and newspapers in Japanese, watching Japanese television
programs and listening to Japanese music and the radio, and by making
requests by emails and fax for work in Japanese. Dating a Japanese girl
for 3 years who only spoke Japanese, helped too. (we're no longer
together, but I am grateful to her for the hours we spend talking
together) I'm still learning day-by-day, but I am approaching the
upper-intermediate level."
Continue reading "Language politics: Germany, Japan, Cote d'Ivoire" »
More on US presidents as Japanese words
Several readers, plus my raised-in-Japan Atlantic colleague James Gibney, have reminded me that Barack Obama is not the first American president whose name has
been converted into an ordinary word in Japanese. After the first President Bush
fell ill and vomited on Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa
at a state dinner in Tokyo in 1992, the term
Bushu-suru -- ブッシュする, "do a Bush" -- became a joke staple of Japanese slang. Bush understood how Montezuma must have felt about having his name appropriated for gastrointestinal use.
Real time picture, via
Wikipedia, of Barbara Bush and PM Miyazawa coming to the aid of the stricken president (behind napkin):
I don't know whether doing "a Clinton" -- クリントンする -- came to mean anything in Japanese.
"To Obama" in Japanese
Last week the NYT ran
a story about how Barack Obama's version of spoken English has become a huge hit in Japan, emerging as the new standard for language-learning. This rings true to the fad/blockbuster nature of many commercial and cultural phenomena in Japan. And, we can all think of worse versions of English for them to emulate. (Carville? Stallone?)
But I thought that
this item from the Ampontan blog, written by a foreigner in Japan, was more fascinating. It is about the way the invented verb
Obamu -- オバむ, "to Obama" -- has gained currency among some Japanese youths. Explanation:
"obamu: (v.) To ignore inexpedient and
inconvenient facts or realities, think "Yes we can, Yes we can," and
proceed with optimism using those facts as an inspiration (literally,
as fuel). It is used to elicit success in a personal endeavor. One
explanation holds that it is the opposite of kobamu. (拒む, which means to refuse, reject, or oppose).
"[Japanese bloggers] give the following example:
:ほら、何落ち込んでいるんだよ。オバめよ、オバめ。
"Or, "Hey, why are you so down in the dumps? Cheer up, cheer up!"...
"One more Japanese-language citation is from a Twitter tweet, which defines it simply as believing you can accomplish something.
"Those familiar with the language will understand immediately that
such a coinage would sound very natural, and that it is typical of
Japanese creativity and their sense of humor."
The absorptive-and-transforming power of the Japanese language is indeed one of its charms. It will be a good sign for Obama if his name continues to be used in this mainly-positive context.
More on Ls and Rs in Japanese
As
mentioned yesterday, the risk in correcting others is that you get exposed to correction yourself. So it turns out to be -- sort of -- with my comments about the L and R sounds in Japanese. Major point: it remains correct to say, as I did, that Japanese speakers do not "
lallate" -- use Ls in place of Rs, and vice versa. Minor refinement! It's not quite right to say, as I also did, that the Japanese phonetic system "has no L sound." Its writing system has only Rs instead of Ls (when represented in the western alphabet), but the sound is more complicated. Representative messages:
"I think it is more accurate to say that Japanese has a single sound that is somewhere in between English 'l' and 'r'. The Japanese 'r' is certainly not standard US retroflex 'r'. Say the name "Richard" and feel where your tongue goes (it's back towards the roof of your mouth). Now say "baseboru" with your best shot at a Japanese accent - you'll find that your tongue is further forward in your mouth and just taps the ridge of your gums. Now say "Lilly" - your tongue will be even further forward. The 'r' in 'baseboru' is somewhere in between "Lilly" and "Richard". " [JF note: this corresponds to my experience in coping with Japanese.]
And, from someone raised in America whose husband was raised in Japan:
"Yeah - they use "R" when they write those syllables in Roman alphabet. I've learned though that my pronunciation is somewhat less comical to the listener if I pronounce it closer to the English "l" sound. As best I can make out, the tongue position makes it something of a cross between our "r", "l", and "d".
I believe there is research showing that a newborn is able to "hear" most any of the sounds you can make, but by the time you are 3 or 5 (or somewhere in there) your brain has specialized for the sounds you normally hear. My husband simply cannot hear the difference between the spoken "l" and "r", because there just aren't those distinct sounds in spoken Japanese.
"
Continue reading "More on Ls and Rs in Japanese" »
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, Besuboru dept
Update: Just after posting the item below I learned of the death of William Safire, who for three decades wrote the NYT Mag's language column, among his voluminous other works. Sorry for a querulous-seeming note under the circumstances. On the other hand, this is the kind of distinction that Safire himself reveled in. My condolences to his family.
___
There is a big risk in writing items on the lines of: "Everybody thinks X, but everybody's wrong. Actually Y is correct." The risk is that, as the corrector, you can be wrong yourself. I know! I've been there before, and no doubt will be again.
Unfortunately, I think that the estimable Jack Rosenthal of the NYT, in
today's "Language" column in the magazine, is there too. Most of the column is devoted to correcting widely-practiced misuses of "phantonym" terms -- "disinterested" to mean bored (wrong) rather than impartial (right), etc. I'm with him on all of these! Then he adds this multilingual note:
"The Japanese love besuboru, reflecting the phonetic phenomenon of lallation, reversing "r" and "l." "
Not really. Rather, in keeping with my opening note of caution:
to the best of my knowledge and experience, this is incorrect. Japanese fans of the Hiroshima Carp or the Nippon Ham Fighters do indeed refer to the sport as either
besoboru or, more formally, 野球,
yakyu. But they don't say
besoboru because they are switching Ls and Rs. They say it because the Japanese language
does not have the L sound. Where English speakers would use either L or R, the Japanese language has only R.*
Therefore when Japanese people speak English, they often have trouble with Ls and may even "lallate," mixing up Ls and Rs. Much as English speakers, raised in a language with no gender, often mix up
le/la or
der/die/das in gendered languages like French or German. But when they're speaking Japanese, they say
besoboru because that's the way their language works. (And if Rosenthal meant that the change wasn't
caused by lallation but simply illustrated the use of an R where there had been an L -- OK. But it's still a bad illustration, since
both Ls and Rs in English will become Rs in Japanese. Saying that it illustrates lallation implies that Rs would become Ls in Japanese --
Balaku Obama, etc. That doesn't happen.)
OTOH, a very nice homage to one of my long-time Atlantic friends and colleagues in the Cox-Rathvon acrostic in the same magazine today, and a lot of unusually elegant clues. Check it out.
___
* Primer on Japanese sound system
here and
here. As anyone who has studied the language knows, its syllabary has the
ra / ri / ru / re / ro sequence of R sounds, but nothing involving Ls.
Foreign words are often brought directly into Japanese and and converted to Japanese phonetics -- in contrast to Chinese, where the concept behind the foreign word is often re-rendered in Chinese. Thus "computer" is
konpyuta (コンピュータ) in Japanese, but
dian nao, "electric brain," (电脑), in Chinese. And thus in China I had a whole invented Chinese name with little relation to my original name, whereas in Japan, within the limits of Japanese sounds, my last name became ファローズ,
Fuarohzu.
Karel van Wolferen on the Japanese electoral revolution
I
mentioned last week that the Dutch writer Karel van Wolferen was, like me, a devotee of "interesting" software for writing and thinking. His real metier, of course, is political analysis, most notably about Japan. On his
site he has just put up a
detailed post about this weekend's historic ousting of the Liberal Democratic Party from governing control in Japan.
The LDP's name has unfortunately misleading connotations in English; as the hoary joke goes, it is neither "liberal" nor "democratic" but instead is the long-standing force of status-quo, favor-trading conservatism. And as Karel has argued in his many
books and articles, its mere existence is misleading in a more fundamental sense, since it implies that Japan is a "normal" democracy, in which political parties compete for the power to control government policy. In fact, elected politicians from the LDP and all other parties have been relatively weak, compared with the permanent and powerful bureaucrats who distribute money, set policy, and in most senses run the country.
To see that analysis applied to the current situation, check out his latest dispatch. He asks whether this election will make any more difference than the only other time the LDP was driven (briefly) from power, just after Bill Clinton's inauguration:
"Will Japan's new government be able to do what the reformists could not possibly accomplish in 1993? Skeptics point at the divisions within the [new ruling party]...
"But my impression is that the individuals of the inner core of the party are deadly serious about what must be done to turn their country into what one of them, the most senior and most experienced Ozawa Ichiro, has in his writing called a 'normal country'."
The idea of Japan as a "normal" country -- one that takes responsibility for its own defense, one with a functioning political system -- is more significant than most people outside Japan usually recognize. I remember hearing Ozawa use that phrase when I interviewed him, in his role as an LDP potentate, twenty years ago while I was living in Tokyo. I have no idea whether this election really will signify, as the one in 1993 did not, the long-awaited historic emergence of Japan as a functioning democracy. But Karel van Wolferen's post lays out the stakes, and the reasons to think it might.
Two articles from Counterpunch (updated)
Two of my friends of longest standing (note how I avoid saying two of my "oldest friends") have articles online at
counterpunch.org that deserve notice.
Eamonn Fingleton, who has been based in Japan for years and has been both contrarian and right in emphasizing the residual strength of Japanese manufacturing (even as the Japanese financial system collapsed), now has
an article about the American media's coverage of Detroit. It is mainly a corrective to the automatic sneer at U.S. automakers that characterizes much political and press commentary about them. The article says:
As
press commentators have generally spun it, the Detroit story has been a
simplistic morality tale of "incompetent executives," "lazy workers,"
and "intransigent unions." Detroit in other words has richly deserved
its fate and, in the opinion of many of the more callous observers, the
sooner it is put out of its misery the better.
The real story is a complex one in which the American auto industry has often been more sinned against than sinning.
The article is very heavy on US-Japanese auto competition; for the record, I disagree with Eamonn on a few of the harpoons that he hurls. But the simple rarity of arguments on the automakers' behalf makes the article worth considering.
Update: Another illustration of its approach, from the beginning:
To see how well -- or rather how badly -- you understand the background, try this quiz:
1.
What was the Detroit companies' share of the Japanese market in 1930?
(a) About 90 per cent. (b) About 20 per cent. (c) Less than 4 per cent.
2. How many models do the Detroit corporations currently make with the
steering wheel on the right (the standard configuration for Japan)? (a)
More than 40. (b) 12. (c) 3.
3.
What was the combined share of all foreign makers - American, European,
and Japanese - in the Korean car market in the last decade? (a) Less
than 2 per cent. (b) Around 15 per cent. (c) More than 70 per
cent.
The correct answer in each case is (a).
If you flunked, don't feel bad. Just cancel your newspaper subscription.
I don't buy Eamonn's "cancel your subscription" advice, since newspapers are just behind carmakers in their overall distress. But his overall pitch is significant.
Also we have
Franklin "Chuck" Spinney, whose name is familiar to anyone who has read or thought about American defense policy over the last generation. Based purely on his study of conflict through the ages, last year Spinney
made a call about Obama-McCain campaign tactics that proved far shrewder than that of many political "experts" at the time.
In his
new article, he makes a call about President Obama's expanding commitment to Afghanistan that is convincing to me and should be alarming to anyone who reflects on what the U.S. is getting itself into. Both articles very much worth a look.
On language schools and weirdo ads
Recently I mentioned "
weirdo language school ads" with an apparent bondage theme, and quoted a reader who had taught English in Japan and offered some psycho-sexual interpretation of the ads. Two updates:
First, the latest entry in this category, from a billboard in Beijing yesterday. Speaking personally, nothing could give me greater confidence in the quality of English language instruction than the slogan, "Talenty English, Talenty Education."
(Yes, "Talenty" appears to be the name of the school, but I'm not sure that helps.)
Second, a letter I received from an official of the Gaba
Eikaiwa (English conversation) school in Japan. He objects to the way the school's reputation was characterized by the reader I quoted. In the spirit of fair reply, his letter follows:
Dear Mr. Fallows,
I happened to recently read your blog of April 14th 2009, entitled "More on weirdo language school ads (updated)". As the person in charge of recruiting new instructors at Gaba language school, I was somewhat disturbed by the several inaccuracies referenced as "testimony from a 'former English teacher in Japan". I would like to bring these to your attention.
Firstly let me mention that the ad pictured is not reflective of current Gaba advertising. It was a poster that last ran over 6 years ago. Current Gaba advertising is significantly different in theme. Please see the J-peg attachment of our current advertising as a sample. While the ad certainly was "unique" and I won't quibble with the fact that some might even find it 'weird', I would hope that the fact that this ad is from 2002/2003 could be mentioned somewhere in the copy.
Here is Gaba's current ad, featuring its "Man to Man" (マン ツー マン) teaching approach. Underneath that, as a reminder, the previous ad; then, after the jump, the rest of the letter:
New ad
Old ad
_____
Continue reading "On language schools and weirdo ads" »
China v. Japan: the packed-train factor
Superficially Japan and China are similar; in nuance and operating details they're generally opposites, as illustrated previously
here. Kathy Kriger, whom I knew in Tokyo twenty years ago and who now lives in Casablanca (where she runs, no joke,
Rick's Cafe), reminds me about an important difference: What happens inside a packed train.
Japan's subways are flat-out more intensely crowded than anything I've seen in China. In Tokyo, uniformed and white-gloved "packers" are normal. The Beijing and Shanghai subways are merely "self-packed," with people crowding their way in but without that extra ratchet-up of density that only trained, professional packers can provide. In Tokyo I lived through the scene below more often than I want to recall. (Photo from
Encarta.)
Clearest sign that the photo was taken in Japan rather than China: Not the packers but the next car-load of passengers, waiting punctiliously in line!
As I recently
mentioned, a very-crowded Beijing subway provides the opportunity for petty theft. In Japan, it's more like petty... petting. Kriger says:
That brought back a flood of memories from Tokyo's train and
subway commutes. My most vivid were from when I lived a year in
Yokohama and commuted into Tokyo first on the JNR Negishi-sen, the blue
train. The worst was the morning, crammed in and unable to move -
invariably forced to look over the shoulder of a guy immersed in a
porno comic book. When it got too much I got out and boarded the next
train. But robbery was never a problem, ever.
My favorite story was
forgetting my purse on the upper rack exiting in Yokohama from the
Yokosuka line enroute to Yokosuka - the end of the line - and going
there the next morning to retrieve my handbag and sign a form verifying
that everything was still there.
We women didn't fear
the pick pocketers so much as those who rode the trains to take
advantage of the crowded conditions to let their hands wander. I think
it might have been Jean Pearce [a local writer] who recounted a story when an outraged
American woman, accosted on a crowded subway, grabbed the offending
hand, raised it and said in Japanese, "Whose hand is this?
The porno-comic factor was such an omnipresent aspect of Japanese public life that it drove my wife from a slow boil into outright constant rage against adult males in general, including the one who happened to be living in the same house. As for the "whose hand is this?" factor, that was so common that there is a standard term for it in Japanese (
chikan, or in hiragana ちかん) and signs outside crowded stations warning "beware of subway gropers." I don't think I ever saw a sign in Japan warning against pickpockets. More
here.
Aviation buffs only: Japan-Taiwan snapshots
After the jump, several more pictures from the recent Tokyo-Okinawa-Taipei flight in a Cirrus SR22. If you're not interested in small airplanes, never mind! (All photos clickable for larger version.)
Continue reading "Aviation buffs only: Japan-Taiwan snapshots" »
What was I thinking (Tommy Lee Jones update)
It must have been the travel blear of the Beijing-Tokyo flight, but I missed the obvious point about the Tommy Lee Jones "Boss" advertising campaign mentioned earlier. Here we truly have a case of life imitating art. Jones is living out the fictional role portrayed by Bill Murray in every gaijin's favorite movie about Japan, Lost in Translation:
I realize that Murray's role was itself art imitating life, based on countless Japanese ad campaigns by foreign celebrities. But Jones's "Boss" presentation does seem to owe something to Murray's "Bob Harris" in the movie. Thanks to Eric Redman for pointing out the connection. I'm sure that he, like me, remembers that Lost had another main character "Charlotte." Of course the homage to a great movie could not have gone that far, but it's interesting to think about.
Japan is a way better place than it used to be
Haven't tried any of 'em yet, though.
(For those joining the story late: brewers' cheapskate reluctance to use hops is generally the bane of the dreadful Asian beer industry.)
Taster's update after jump:
Continue reading "Japan is a way better place than it used to be" »
"The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept)
This is not a scientific comparison, but when i saw one scene I remembered another.
This is the recent scene: yesterday afternoon, Naha airport, Okinawa, Japan. Line crew gassing up a Cirrus SR22:
Continue reading ""The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept)" »
While I'm at it (flying in Japan dept)
What I saw out my window around 11am today, from 8000 feet:
Tommy Lee Jones, in the role he was born for
On a thousand billboards and a million vending machines across Japan, Suntory "Boss" coffee has a new face:
Here's the old Boss, by the way, still honored with his picture on the can:
Continue reading "Tommy Lee Jones, in the role he was born for" »
Not so thankful for this at Thanksgiving (Japan Big Brother dept)
Flying from Beijing to Tokyo this morning -- generally an invigorating experience! Japan looks startlingly neat and organized even if you're arriving from Switzerland. And when you're coming not from Switzerland but from China.... Anyhow I arrived excited at the prospect of a few days here.
Unfortunately Japan's way of ushering in the Thanksgiving holidays has been to institute mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of all foreigners entering the country. Let me put this bluntly: this is an incredibly degrading, offputting, and hostility-generating process. The comment is not anti-Japanese: when the U.S. does this to foreigners, it's wrong and degrading too (as many people, including me, have pointed out over the years). But Japan has just ushered in this procedure, and they deserve to take some heat for it.
Continue reading "Not so thankful for this at Thanksgiving (Japan Big Brother dept)" »
